This is a pun on the phrase “new headcanon”. A “headcanon” is a fan's thought imposed on a fictional world, often seen in fanfiction. Something that is 'canon' exists in the author's actual world; for example, a romantic pairing that is in the text or script of the fiction. A headcanon, then, is a fan thinking "these two characters, who are NOT together in the text, should totally be together." These ideas are notoriously contagious("It's really easy to get other people to believe in them."), and sometimes return to the author, who may decide to canonize them.

This is a pun on the phrase “new headcanon”. A “headcanon” is a fan's thought imposed on a fictional world, often seen in fanfiction. Something that is 'canon' exists in the author's actual world; for example, a romantic pairing that is in the text or script of the fiction. A headcanon, then, is a fan thinking "these two characters, who are NOT together in the text, should totally be together." These ideas are notoriously contagious("It's really easy to get other people to believe in them."), and sometimes return to the author, who may decide to canonize them.

Randall's pun, adds an N and turns the imposed idea into a miniature cannon (a projectile weapon) attached to the head (which would be very easy to get people to believe in for other reasons).

Randall's pun, adds an N and turns the imposed idea into a miniature cannon (a projectile weapon) attached to the head (which would be very easy to get people to believe in for other reasons).

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The title text refers to the challenge of getting others to believe in one's headcanon. Randall is implying that shooting a cannon at someone is enough evidence to believe in the cannon's existance.

==Transcript==

==Transcript==

Revision as of 04:59, 30 July 2014

Title text: The nice thing about headcannnons is that it's really easy to get other people to believe in them.

Explanation

This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect:Please include the reason why this explanation is incomplete, like this: {{incomplete|reason}}If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks.

This is a pun on the phrase “new headcanon”. A “headcanon” is a fan's thought imposed on a fictional world, often seen in fanfiction. Something that is 'canon' exists in the author's actual world; for example, a romantic pairing that is in the text or script of the fiction. A headcanon, then, is a fan thinking "these two characters, who are NOT together in the text, should totally be together." These ideas are notoriously contagious("It's really easy to get other people to believe in them."), and sometimes return to the author, who may decide to canonize them.
Randall's pun, adds an N and turns the imposed idea into a miniature cannon (a projectile weapon) attached to the head (which would be very easy to get people to believe in for other reasons).

The title text refers to the challenge of getting others to believe in one's headcanon. Randall is implying that shooting a cannon at someone is enough evidence to believe in the cannon's existance.

Transcript

Discussion

Why are there three n's in headcannnon in the title text?
Keavon (talk)

Or as n increases the effort to convince others that the existence/correctness of headca(n)+on decreases? 108.162.216.26 20:31, 30 July 2014 (UTC)arcturius

I think it's as simple as 1 n in canon (what the pun is based on), 2 n's in cannon (in the comic), and just to keep the pattern going, 3 n's in cannnon (in the title text).--173.245.54.175 05:35, 30 July 2014 (UTC)

That reminds me on Neil Stephensons - The Diamond Age: or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer... Very nerdy! 108.162.254.21 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Another very common usage of headcanon is when you REMOVE something from your headcanon - that is, pretend that it never happened, despite it being canon. Often it's case of not-really-good sequels. Or later edits: see Han shot first. -- Hkmaly (talk) 10:35, 30 July 2014 (UTC)

I thought that headcanon was everything fans imagined, not just what contradicts canon. --141.101.105.204 16:32, 30 July 2014 (UTC)

Anyone note that the computer is completely undamaged (from the cannonfire at least, no telling about when it strikes the floor), despite the desk being demolished? Zowayix (talk) 13:14, 30 July 2014 (UTC)

Black Hat is shown to have short dark hair. That's new xkcd canon. As far as I know, he'd always been shown wearing a hat completely covering his hair until now. --Dangerkeith3000 (talk) 15:33, 30 July 2014 (UTC)

"The title text is a pun on the homophones *canon* and *cannon*" ... uh, the whole entire COMIC is a pun on the homophones *canon* and *cannon*. 173.245.56.149 18:16, 30 July 2014 (UTC)

Kudos to the author(s) of the example using Quark. One of the best-written explanations on this wiki. jameslucas(" " / +) 22:42, 30 July 2014 (UTC)

"Fans might wonder why, on a station that has "replicators" (devices that can create any food or drink out of energy on demand), anyone would patronize a bar" - perhaps because they might want to, you know, socialise with other people? Call me old-fashioned... --141.101.99.37 14:23, 31 July 2014 (UTC)

Anyone know if this weeks what if is different depending on region? I only ask because it mentions my small town and I am skeptical based on past comics. 1037: Umwelt173.245.56.208 06:25, 1 August 2014 (UTC)

No one has explained why the comic is titled "New". Because Black hat says "NEW HEADCANNON:" rather than "I HAVE A NEW HEADCANNON:", I think he is speaking not English, but some programming language. Black Hat created the headcannon by saying "new Headcannon:", which is a command to instantiate an object of type Headcannon. This is similar to previous strips http://xkcd.com/353/ and http://xkcd.com/413/, which attributed supernatural creative powers to Python's "import" statement. But "new Headcannon:" isn't Python. I don't know language it is. 108.162.237.178 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Could the "headcannnon" refer to an idea that "blows your mind"? The trajectory of the "literal" cannon ball ends where Cueball's head was, so it went from head to head, not head to desk... --B. P. (talk) 22:34, 28 October 2014 (UTC)

It seems more likely Black Hat is just being an asshole and shooting him in the face. -Pennpenn 108.162.249.205 02:51, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

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